Talk About Your Strange Days
by Skuns
Summary: After all this time, jealousy had finally reared it's ugly head.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Henry had the annoying habit of being unpredictable. He voiced whatever oddball thought came to mind, displayed quirks and behaviors of unusual proportions, and was never found in the same place twice. Many found him to be quite unhinged but Robin simply defended him as being an eccentric, though they had their days where his bizarre antics tested her normally peaceful waters.

Such as his complete lack of acceptable communication skills. There wasn't a single situation that he wasn't able to relate to in terms of battle, blood, or buffoonery. Battle most could understand since war was the lifestyle amongst their forces. Blood, for some reason he had an unhealthy fascination with blood and would often speak of it like it were something to be revered. Maybe? Certainly not in the way he was thinking. Then there was his buffoonery. The jokes, don't even think about setting him up for a joke. They carried the comedic genius of a twelve year old and more often than not, were lame and unfunny. She only laughed because she knew that was what he wanted. His fellow Shepherds developed what they affectionately coined "The Palm-to-Face Effect", in which they'd be going about their daily duties, he would pop up out of the woodwork with witty words(witty by his standards), then whisk away with a cackle, leaving them with a hand to their face while they grumbled his name. It actually was quite hilarious to any uninvolved individuals.

But actions speak louder than words and most people had a devil of a time trying their best to ignore it. Which was rather difficult when the Shepherds resident psychotic was waving a disembodied risen arm in their face, asking if they'd like to collaborate on it's dissection. They never said yes. Or the day after their wedding when he was finally allowed to move into her tent and she walked in on him constructing a death altar in the far corner, animal skeletons and all. While she was very aware of his 'unique' hobbies, she'd be damned before letting him offer up sacrifices where they slept("What do you need a death altar for?!", "Pfft, what DON'T I need a death altar for?"). Needless to say, she put her foot down.

Lastly, he just couldn't keep his insatiable wanderlust in check. He was always in the way, ready with an arsenal of homemade hexes and bad jokes but the moment anyone decided that they just might need him, he was nowhere to be found. He'd be in the mess tent, cursing bowls of broth to explode whenever the patrons went to take a spoonful, then within the hour be running amok through the designated training grounds, poor, terrified Ricken in tow, to just having plain disappeared. He was impossible to keep track of and it frustrated her to no end. Which was her problem currently.

-Midmorning-

Having spent a good chunk of her morning recess asking the others of his whereabouts, she finally stumbled upon him sitting alone in the wide open field that they had decided to use for a paddock; specifically, for horses and pegasi. Huffing irritably, she stepped over the low-slung rope that provided the barrier and marched towards him, irked by the fact that she had ventured to the four corners of camp looking for him only to find him in the center, hanging out with horses. Go figure.

As she moved closer, she could feel her annoyance ebbing. Of course she wasn't happy about his near constant disappearing acts but he actually hadn't done anything wrong. No matter how flighty he got, he never wandered too far and was always quick to return when it mattered. But that was Henry for you. Here for a moment, then gone like the wind. His backwards innocence knew no bounds and people just couldn't stay mad at that face. Especially her and she knew she was sucker for it.

Smiling at the idea of him being her Achilles heel, she dropped to her knees behind him and snaked her arms around his front, burying her face in his hair. "I've been looking for you, you know," she breathed, inhaling the wonderfully clean scent of his scalp. "And here you are, playing with horses."

She'd never seen or felt him flinch so badly.

"RAAARGH!" He cried, flinging her arms off of him to scramble away on all fours.

She held her hands up in surrender as she stared at him, bug-eyed by his dramatic response. Even with their newly-wed status, he knew her. She would grab him from behind all the time and he never reacted in such a way. He knew her by sight, scent, sound, and even touch. Henry didn't have to see her to know that it was her hand stroking his back. He just knew.

But not today.

"WHAT was THAT?" Robin exclaimed, completely taken aback. Normally, she would have laughed this off but her morning had been anything but smooth and she was really in no mood for hi-jinks. Henry gripped the cloth of his sweater where his heart was and breathed heavily, calming his nerves.

"S-sorry, Robin...you just scared me is all, hehe..." His smile was gone and his eyes were open, revealing their pale grey irises. He never frowned and never opened his eyes. How unusual...

Nervously, Henry brought his hands together and fiddled with his fingers. They sat in uncomfortable silence for some time, him fidgeting in place upon his knees and her watching his tics incredulously. After what must have been a solid minute and a half, a smile hastily re-formed on his face and he scrunched his eyes shut, like he suddenly remembered that he was acting out of character. Then he spoke.

"Urm, is there something you need...?"

Robin raised her eyebrows.

"Noo..." She drawled. "But you are behaving very strangely. Stranger than usual, I should say."

"Oh! Am I? Oh gosh, I didn't realize...I mean, I-I must have been so lost in thought that..err, what I mean to say is...DAYDREAMING! I was daydreaming! About blood. And bathtubs-BLOODBATHS!" Pointing a finger to the sky, he nearly leapt to his feet as he shouted the words at her. "Yup. I was daydreaming about bloodbaths. A good, old fashioned bloodbath." The last word cracked his voice and a slender hand flew to his mouth as if willing himself not to retch.

"O-K..." Robin mouthed, elongating each letter while she eyeballed him suspiciously. This was taking a turn for the weird, not to mention much longer than Chrom had given her when she requested a break. If she didn't move this along then the little time she was allotted would pass her by and she likely wouldn't get to see him till unbelievably late that night, when she finally trudged her way back to their tent, exhausted and grumpy from being overworked, and by then he'd already be sound asleep. He could act all kinds of weird another time.

Waving a hand dismissively, she softened her features and forgave his strange ways.

"Anyways, I needed a break. It's not even midday and I feel like my eyes might shrivel up from all the reading. I know, I know...'But I love to read'." She threw that last bit in when Henry opened his mouth, saying the words before he could. Slumping her shoulders she continued. "I'm just so tired lately, tired of planning, and fighting, and worry-...were you making flower bracelets?"

Casting her gaze down to where his knees met the grass, sat a small pile of tiny white flowers with quite a few of them missing their petals. She picked one up.

"They're not even connected. What in the world did you do to them?" Rolling the short stem between her thumb and forefinger, she delicately plucked the last remaining petal, letting it flutter back to the field. Henry kept quiet, only bringing a hand to his chin, curling a finger against his lips.

"Oh! You were doing flower fortunes, weren't you?"

He was the one to raise his eyebrows this time.

"Silly! You could have just said so!" Smiling wide, she reached a hand to his head and ruffled his white hair, enjoying the feel of it between her fingers a little too much.

"No need to be shy about it! Sumia does them all the time and for EVERYTHING. Not exactly a science though...actually, not a science at all...and definitely wasteful. Of both time and pretty flowers... " she giggled when his expression turned downcast."But they're still quite fun, especially when you're curious as to whether or not he likes you."

Winking, she giggled even more when he blushed at the flirty gesture.

"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" Tickling his nose with the tiny flower stem, she smirked when he rubbed the sleeve of his sweater roughly against his face to ease the sensation. Still, he said nothing.

"You're awfully quiet today. That's so not like you."

Deciding to take advantage of his silence(also, he was just too precious for his own good), she leaned forward on her knees, placing her hands in the grass on either side of his legs to steady herself, brought her face close to his and smiled sweetly as she went for his lips. Henry opened his eyes yet again.

"NOOOOOOO!" Placing his hands on her shoulders, and with just the right amount of force, he shoved her back onto her rear("What the hell, Henry?!"), then jumped to his feet. As he turned frantically on the spot, hands wringing together, he began to babble a string of hisses and distressed chatter.

"Oh gods, why did I ever agree to do this? Ugh, this was SUCH a bad idea! I'm so STUPID to think this would work, and now everyone is going to find out, and they're all going to think I'm weird! *Gasp* Ooh nooo!" He actually squealed.

"ExCUSE me? You had better not be referring to me, mister. You definitely agreed to this.". She held her ring hand up in emphasis. "In fact, it was your idea in the first place! You proposed to me, remember?" Her annoyance was back and in full swing. Furrowed brow and flushed cheeks announced it's presence but Henry didn't notice. He was still too busy chastising himself over gods knows what.

"Henry? Look at me. LOOK AT ME!"

Closing the distance he had created, she grabbed hold of his shoulders and shook as hard as she could. Shocked by Robins aggressiveness, he froze under her grip and stared, silver-grey eyes flashing in the sunlight.

"What. Is. Going. On." She said slowly, the confusion splayed out plainly on on her face. Henry watched her carefully. Then he crumbled. Heaving a sigh, he relaxed while in turn, she relaxed with him.

"Henry?..."

"Ugh, alright...just promise me you won't get mad."

"Huh? No, no I'm not going to promise that. Now tell me what is going on with you this instant!"

He took a small step back from her as he seemed to cower in on himself. She cocked her head quizzically, waiting for the big reveal.

"Well...I'm not really...Gods, how am I supposed to explain this?..."

Robin crossed her arms and tapped her foot, giving him the impression that she was waiting for his answer, and waiting rather impatiently.

"Well, you see...I'm not really...Henry..." His voice came out small and timid, and he even closed his eyes, ready to feel her wrath. Robin just stared.

"Riiight..."

"It's true! I'm actually...S-Sumia..." As if it would help 'her' case, Henry stooped down to gather the shredded flowers in his hands and held them out to her, like flower fortunes were perfect evidence. Actually, that made some sort of sense.

Robin held up a hand to cut him off but did not move to take the flower remains.

"So, if you're Sumia in Henry's body, then is Henry somewhere around camp...in your body?" She did not like where this was going. Not one bit.

Smiling triumphantly, Henry(Sumia) nodded his head vigorously, not caring when the movement allowed the flowers to cascade out of his hands and back to which they came.

"Yes! That's right!"

"I see..." She glanced sideways, feeling something rather unpleasant boil over in the pit of her stomach. They switched bodies? Her own husband, switched bodies, with another girl? Who was also married?

"Oh, I'm so glad you understand!" Henry(Sumia), clasped one of her hands in his own. "I was so worried that someone would find out and think it completely weird. But you're always so understanding and I'm SO glad it was you! Now we can go find Hen-"

Robin jerked her hand away, her face contorting to mirror the terrible feeling inside. How could he?

Without a word but with a glare that could kill, Robin turned on her heel and strode away, leaving Henry(Sumia) to stand in stunned silence.

After all this time. After all she put up with. His lack of social graces, his terrible jokes, his inability to stay where she could see him...and not once did he ever try do something like that for her. Not that she was eager for an out-of-body experience but it seemed so intimate that she would probably say yes.

And what of all the other times? Nowi didn't have many people willing to play with her but Robin found it sweet when he offered to be her playmate as well as solve her manakete problem. Shopping with Cordelia was harmless enough, even though it was an attempt to help her get over Chrom. She hadn't been invited but she still turned a blind eye. They were just friends after all. Then when Lissa complained of insomnia and he boasted the solution, she was more than a little surprised to find him napping under an apple tree as the princess slept soundly on his shoulder. It became a daily occurrence and she actually felt guilty when she voiced her opinions on the matter. Robin was nothing but patient and understanding. But this was going too far.

As she walked away from the paddock, anger and hurt storming within, after all this time, jealousy had finally reared it's ugly head.

-To be continued-


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

This story kiiinda found it's way to the back burner while I made progress with That Funny Way of His... So sorry! I did have a chapter written and near ready to be posted when, in my infinite wisdom, I accidentally deleted it-_-... So, I had to completely re-write the whole thing, which is just as well because I didn't like it anyways.:P

This chapter is Henry-centric, I need to practice writing him better.

:3

...

-Midday-

Gliding gently on the breeze, the mare touched down as lightly as a pegasus could, which was actually quite heavy. With a grunt, the animal dropped to the ground, legs stretching their full length to compensate for the speed of flight, galloping the rest of the way to her true mistress. Henry jumped to his feet anxiously when the pegasus and rider drew closer, swinging wide to circle around the dark mage so as to avoid an unwanted collision. Coming to a halt, the petite rider hopped down from the saddle and immediately bombarded her friend with excited chatter.

"OHMIGOSH! That was so awesome! I've never seen the world like that before! We went all the way to the other side of the forest and were like...WOOOO! Then we skimmed the water in the lake and were like...PSHAAAW! You should really teach this old girl how to do a barrel roll by the way, she just wouldn't budge for me. *Sigh*. Man, why can't guys be Pegasus Knights? Then I could do this all the time!"

"Um, Henry?..." said Henry nervously.

"WAIT! What if I promote to a Wyvern Rider? Holy horsefeathers, that would be INCREDIBLE! I would teach it to do barrel rolls and then I could swoop down on the enemy with my dark magic! It'd be just like something out of the Apocalypse!"

"That's...frightening alright...but Henry, listen-"

"That WOULD be frightening, ahahaha! I'm getting chills just thinking about it! I should go find Robin and ask her about it."

"Speaking of Robin..."

Sumia glanced over her shoulder at the tacticians name while she hummed happily to herself. She had taken to stroking the mares pearly mane. "Hmm? What about her?"

Funny, how he practically never seemed to be paying attention until the Shepherds tactician was mentioned.

Henry shuffled on the spot, not quite meeting her cheery gaze with his own, gloomy one. "Do you think...we could switch back? I kind of miss being in my own body..."

"Oh, right! Sure thing!" Sumia said, clapping her hands together. "KA-BLAMMO!"

In the blink of an eye and without much warning, Henry and Sumia stumbled backwards away from each other as they re-connected with their bodies. The force of re-entering her body wasn't terribly strong but the pull she felt was just enough to knock Sumia onto her backside. Henry swayed but remained on his feet.

"Whoa, are you alright? That was some impact, hahaha!" He laughed as he reached a hand out to her.

"Yeah, I'm fine..." She answered meekly, taking his offered hand and righting herself.

"That's good. So, what about Robin? I haven't seen her since this morning, she's okay, right?"

Sumia faltered for a moment. "Define okay..."

His mouth twitched at the corner, threatening to turn upside down should her news about his wife be ill. It was a minor signal, hardly noticeable at all but Sumia still caught it and quickly corrected herself.

"I-I mean yes! She's just fine! At least, she looked just fine..."

"Ahaha, that's good! You had me worried for a moment, almost sent me into a bloody rampage! You shouldn't do that to me, Sumia, because I totally will! Unleess...you WANT me to! Ahaha, I always knew you were a twisted one!" He chastised, waving a finger at her face in a disciplinary-like manner.

Sumia faltered a second time. "Wha-WHAT! Of course I don't want you to! And I am NOT twisted!"

Henry continued to stare at her with that annoying smile of his.

"If you would just LISTEN to me to for a moment, I've been trying to tell you that Robin was out here a while ago. She snuck up on me, thinking I was you. Well, I mean, of course she would think that, I was in your body..." Sumia shook her head, trying to get her story straight. "Anyways, she's too smart sometimes because she just knew that something was up. Soo, I sort of told her about the body-swapping curse... Aaand she didn't seem to like it one bit... She barely said a word before storming off. I didn't even get to explain why we used the curse."

"Oh..."

Sumia smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry to ruin your good mood, but I think she's really upset..."

Henry was quiet for a moment, resting his chin in his folded fingers before barking out another laugh. "Hahaha, it's okay, Sumia! I'll just find her and tell her what was really going on. She can't be THAT mad..."

"I don't know... You didn't see the way she looked at me..."

"You're probably just seeing things. She almost never gets mad at me. Weell, there was that one time... Bah! She got over it later that day. This is probably just another one of those times." He declared matter-of-factly.

"Riight..." Sumia took hold of the reigns to her pegasus and began to lead the animal away from her friend, intending to take her to the makeshift stables for a bath and rest. She stopped briefly in her tracks to call out to him over her shoulder. "I'd wish you good luck but then again, you could probably just curse yourself with luck."

"Ahahaha, I could! Too bad it'd be days before I started to feel any of the effects though."

Sumia gave him a blank expression before turning back to her pegasus and duty. "Good luck then..."

Henry watched Sumia's retreating back for a minute or two before deciding that she was weird(just like the girl had feared) and that he missed Robin. With a chuckle, he headed back to camp in search of his ladylove.

...

It was midday and that meant lunch was being served. Nothing good, obviously, but if Robin found out that he had skipped a meal then he really would be in trouble. Food wasn't scarce but it also wasn't something to be wasted and being a soldier meant keeping your strength up. She was constantly going off about how valuable he was to the Shepherds and if he was incapacitated because he refused to eat the awful rations, then who would train and lead the mage corps? It was nothing but beating a dead horse to him but if it was what Robin wanted, then he just didn't have it in him to deny her. Also, he was rather hungry. He figured he could put off his search for her for a little while longer.

Upon entering the mess tent, he was sort of surprised to find it almost empty. This time of day always saw the tables and benches packed with fellow Shepherds practically starving after a morning of hard work. Today, he could actually count the heads of Shepherds who were scattered about the premises. Three, to be exact. Then he suddenly remembered that most were unfortunate enough to have been called away to a rigorous training session with Frederick, one that was to take them far and away from camp for the day, and one that he had been summoned to as well, and subsequently 'forgot' about. Oh well, he'd just join the next one.

Since the lunch line was non-existent, he stepped up to the counter, accepted his bowl of what looked like dish water(for him, it very well might have been; he was rather unpopular among the kitchen crew), then wove his way to an empty table. He would have joined either of the three Shepherds already sitting down but none of them looked up to conversing with him: Olivia was too shy and immediately bolted when he approached, Miriel was too engrossed in an exceptionally thick encyclopedia and didn't even acknowledge him, and Libra had just finished his meal and was setting about to leave. So, he took a seat in the far corner where it was dark and cool. At least the darkness was always inviting.

"Good day, Henry." came a disembodied voice.

"YIKES!" shouted Henry, nearly throwing his bowl of dish water into the air.

"Oh jeez, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you!"

"Kellam?! When did you get here?"

"I've been here...you joined my table." The tall knight said a bit too sadly.

"I did? Huh, well, the more the merrier, am I right or am I right? Hahaha!"

"I like to think so." Kellam chuckled along.

Henry dipped his spoon into the off-color liquid before tentatively taking a sip. He sloshed it around his mouth, tasting it carefully, then spit the contents back into the bowl. They really did give him dish water! He gagged on the polluted aftertaste which prompted Kellam to reach across the table to thump him hard on the back, willing him to breathe properly again.

"Are you alright?"

"Gah! I think the kitchen is trying to kill me, ahaha!"

"Why would they do that?"

"Who knows! It's not my fault they suck at their job!"

"Maybe it's comments like that..."

Henry simply shrugged, shoving the bowl as far away from him as it would go without tipping off the edge of the table. No one could say that he didn't try to eat.

"If Robin asks, you'll tell her I ate, right? She's always so concerned over it. Says I'm too underweight and that I should bulk up a little. Pfft, why the hell would I want to look like Vaike?"

"I think she's just concerned is all. She was here some time ago. Actually, you just missed her. She even sat down here at my table just like you did..." Kellam trailed off, a far-off look taking over his previously happy one.

"Oh, yeah? Did she say anything? I was going to look for her when I thought I might grab a bite to eat. That turned out real well, ahaha!"

Kellam shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Actually, she did. Pretty much poured her heart out to me. She...even cried a little..."

Henry felt his stomach take a dive. His smile took a dive as well. She was crying? Because of him? Maybe Sumia was right, maybe Robin really was upset with him. "Really? Why?..."

The knight lifted a large hand to rub sheepishly at the back of his neck. "She was upset. Over something from this morning. Something about you and Sumia... Which lead to things about you and Nowi, and you and Lissa, you and Cordelia..." He nodded in Miriel and Olivia's direction. "You and them..."

Henry followed Kellams gaze, unsure of what any of the girls had to do with him, and why Robin would get so bent out of shape over it.

"I don't know if I understand..."

Kellam sighed, taking pity on his strange friend, remembering that he had just the basic concept of relationships and probably didn't fully get that marriage was sacred, and Hell definitely had no fury like a women scorned. He should probably know that he was venturing into dangerous territory.

"She said that you and Sumia had switched bodies? I'm going to level with you, that's a little weird. Especially since you're both married and not to each other."

A look of recognition crossed the dark mages features before the implications of his actions settled in. "Alright, maaybe that was a bad idea. But nothing happened! It was purely so that I could ride a pegasus and Sumia would be able to spin some dark magic. It was the only way since Sumia doesn't have a single magical bone in her body. I would know, I was in it, ahaha!"

Kellam dropped his face into one of his hands.

"Sumia said she didn't even get to explain that part of the deal to her before she stormed off. All I have to do is tell her what it was all about and things will be fine! She'll see that she's making a mountain out of a dung heap and move on, and I'll be her favorite again! Easy peasy!"

"Henry, please listen to me... Women are not quite so easy to dupe. Not that that's what you're doing but you also happen to be married to the smartest women in the army. Perhaps she'll see your reasoning and forgive and forget, but the way she was talking to me, the things she said, I don't know... Women are something different entirely when they let their emotions run away with them. I mean, if Panne ever found out that I spent too much time with other women, she'd eviscerate me and not feel a shred of remorse over it."

Henry thought about Kellams words for a moment. "She said I spend too much time with other women?"

Kellam nodded. "She said that she didn't mind you playing with Nowi since everyone plays with Nowi. She did not like you napping with Lissa, she did not like you taking Cordelia on a shopping spree, she doesn't like you taking emotional lessons from Olivia, and she really doesn't like you researching pregnancy with Miriel." Kellam raised an eyebrow at the last part of his speech. "But the body-swapping, that's just too much for her."

"What do you mean, 'it's too much for her'?" asked Henry, not liking the sick feeling that flowed into his stomach. It had been established that she was upset with him, VERY upset according to two eye-witnesses now. Did that mean she was upset enough to call it quits? Was she so angry and hurt by his childish antics that she was going to leave him? Would she really do that? She could have had any guy in the army and still could, but she chose him. And he didn't realize it until now that he was screwing it up.  
Before Kellam could answer his question, before he could clarify just what he meant exactly, Henry jumped to his feet and ran from the mess tent, his dark cloak fanning out behind him.

...  
He was breathing quite heavily at this point. He had been running all over camp in search of his wife but came up empty handed. She wasn't in their tent, she wasn't in the officers marquee, the women's bath was devoid of life(he had barged in without worrying about common courtesy or gender regulations), and the few Shepherds who had managed to avoid Frederick's Fanatical Fitness Hour claimed that they hadn't seen hide nor hair of her. She had vanished from camp and possibly, from his life.

He doubled over when a stitch in his side began to hurt. "What am I going to do?..." He asked himself quietly in between his ragged breathing. "What have I done? Sh-she can't leave me...I don't want to be alone again..." The thoughts whirled about his mind as he suddenly felt his heart beat faster and faster.

He reached out to grip the fabric of a nearby tent and tried to steady himself. His hands felt sweaty and he felt a dizzy-spell coming on. When his breathing became something more akin to hyperventilating, he dropped to the ground and threw his back against the canvas.

This was it, this was his beautiful wolf all over again except that Robin was more like a cat, a lioness who didn't really need him. And he had been so stupid! Thinking he could continue to act like nothing had changed and that he didn't need to constantly say "I love you" or to play with her, or nap with her, or take her shopping for her to know that he did. The body-swapping curse? A stupid-clever curse he came up with in the hopes that she would agree to it. He'd swap bodies with her in a heartbeat if it meant her being happy while having a little fun behind closed doors... She knew, right? She had to; she wouldn't have married him if she didn't! But here he was, panicking like he never had, scared to death that he had finally done enough damage to chase her away.

...

Poor baby...:(  
It'll get better soon.


End file.
